Nameless Faces
by skullcandy11
Summary: Thanos thought he bested the Avengers, but when courting Death, make sure you don’t harm those she cares about. Cross posted on AO3


Thanos had won. At least, thats what it looked like to the Avengers. Bruce had been knocked out early in the battle, and had yet to move again. Natasha checked him a while ago and determined that he was still breathing, though. Clint was taken out soon after by the Other. The only reason Natasha lasted so long was because she stole some prototype weapons from SHIELD, but she could only stay in the game so long before she too was taken out by ten of the Chitauri working together. Thor and Cap were taken out by Thanos simultaneously when he treated a large slab of concrete from one of the fallen building like a baseball bat, and knocked them out. By then, everyone else was unconscious, so no one could say for sure how Tony was taken out, but the four foot piece of rebar going through his middle was rather telling.

Now they were all tied up, except for Tony, as he couldn't really move anyway, and Bruce, as they just left him where he was. Rogers was struggling in his restraints, but the hit he had received to his head made it so that he was still weak and woozy. Thor was almost free, but then the Mad Titan yanked the rebar out of Tony's midsection to hit Thor upside the head with.

"Earth's mightiest heroes, pah! Look at how easily you have fallen!" Thanos crowed.

No sooner had the gleeful words left his lips when a voice behind him spoke up.

"Oh my dearest, what has my Courter done to you?" The tone was soft, almost doting.

Thanos whipped around to look at the woman laid down next to Tony, stroking his hair away from his face, and gasped when he met her eyes.

"My Lady," he exclaimed whilst bending down on one knee, "I was not expecting you yet! I-"

"Silence you fool! I don't even want to look at you after this great disservice you have done unto me!" The woman was still softly stroking Tony's hair, smiling down on his as he looked at her with adoration.

At this Thanos looked up at her with a frown on his face.

"But my Lady, are you not glad with my courting gift to you? Is Midgard not large enough? Are there not enough souls to gift you with in this one realm to endear you to me?"

Finally the woman stood, and everyone there was able to see her clearly, and she was grotesque. One half of her body was made up of the most beautiful woman ever seen, with long flowing black hair, blue ice chips for an eye so clear, it was almost white, and peach pink lips pursed in dissatisfaction. At least, she would have been the most beautiful woman if not for her other half consisting of an emaciated skeleton, with clumps of stringy, greasy hair hanging off her skull, an eyeball practically rolling out of her head, and no skin on her ribs to show the deteriorating organs inside.

From behind her, still laying on the ground clutching his bleeding middle, Tony Stark chuckled. "Thanos, Thanos, Thanos, let me give you a tip." he said with a smug smile. "One meaningful death means more to your Mistress than a thousand nameless faces, and you attempted to gift her billions."

At this, Thanos looked both angry and confused. Angry that this puny mortal dare address him and assume to know the thoughts of his beloved Mistress, and confused that she merely smiled at the words rather than smite the foolish mortal where he lay.

Here Death turned fully to face the purple alien and said, "Thanos, the Mad Titan, Courter of Death, until now I had welcomed your advances, but now you have hurt one of my own. You have injured my Merchant, my Chosen for this realm. He who has gifted me with three deaths, and has earned my favor. He has killed thousands, maybe even millions, in my name, but those three were worth more than anything you could every offer me. You cannot sacrifice a betrayer to you and yours to me. You cannot sacrifice your torturer and killer of a close friend to me. You cannot sacrifice to me a soul that has tormented and tortured you or your family. My Merchant has given me all three, and for that, Mad Titan, I reject your advances and promise you this. If you ever lay a hand on me or mine again, I will not kill you. No, I will erase you from existence. When I am through with you, even Yggdrasil won't know who you were." Throughout all of this, she never moved an inch, the only part of her that moved was her lips as she first shared her story, and the gave her oath. Thanos, on the other hand backed away from her, farther and farther, with each sentence she uttered. By the end of her speech, he was cowering away from her, and looked like he wanted to do nothing more than run away and never come back.

Nodding at the cowed being, she turned and waved a hand to free the now unconscious Tony from his Iron Man suit, and then she bent down and laid a hand on his wound. The Avengers watched in awe as all of the blood around him seemed to move in reverse as it all shifted back inside of him, and the wound healed itself. When she was done, she caressed his cheek, and kissed his brow, and then was gone.


End file.
